


A Little Knowledge

by Mag7FandF_FanGirl (RannaFic)



Series: Adjustments and Accomodations [3]
Category: Fast & Furious 6 (2013), The Fast and the Furious (2001), The Magnificent Seven (TV)
Genre: Developing Relationship, M/M, Magnificent Seven AU: ATF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-29
Updated: 2012-07-29
Packaged: 2017-11-10 21:12:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/470743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RannaFic/pseuds/Mag7FandF_FanGirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some problems arise involving one of Dom's former crew, and team 8</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Agent in Danger

**Author's Note:**

> The idea that Ezra uses disguises is borrowed from Understanding Ezra (Misconceptions) by JudyL. Ryan Kelly's team 8 is from Heather F. I think Kirk Gustin is from Celeste

There was a package waiting on Travis' desk when he walked into his office. It was not unusual for his secretary to come in an hour or so before he arrived so he assumed she must have placed it on his desk. He picked it up and was surprised to see it was not addressed to him but just to "AD of the ATF". He sighed. The other Assistant Directors had voted and decided to assign all such generically addressed packages to him since more often than not they were complaints about team 7. He opened the package to find a DVD, now this was a first. He popped the DVD into his computer and was dismayed to see a video of Agent Kirk Gustin from team 8 tied to a chair looking battered. The voice over on the video simply said "We will be in touch with our demands." 

The meeting was degenerating into a shouting match between various members of the ATF teams when there was a shrill whistle. Chris Larabee stood up in the silence and said "You know what. This is not working. Ryan's team and mine will contact the rest of you guys when we can use you. Now out!" To the surprise of some of the Directors present the other teams filed out without another word. They were even more astonished when Chris indicated the door and said "You too." Ryan intervened then with a "Please" and the Directors filed out though with a little grumbling about high handed tactics. Chris started again "Alright what do we know?" The first to speak was an unusually subdued Ezra "Now with that the crowd gone I need to provide a piece of information that I was somewhat hesitant to share in more general company." Ryan was sitting next to Ezra and at that his hands shot out and pulled Ezra up by his lapels to face him "Goddamn it Standish! You cannot be cagey at a time like this. What the hell do you know?" Ezra did not reply or attempt to push him away but shifted quickly so that he was between Ryan and the rest of his team and suddenly it dawned on Kelly just who, or more accurately what, he was manhandling. He dropped his hands and backed away with a quiet curse and apology. Chris looked at him with a frown and Vin came forward and dropped into the now vacant seat beside Ezra without comment. The tension was broken when Chris simply said "Apology accepted. One of your men is missing, we understand. Don't touch him again though." Ezra then resumed as though the whole incident had never occurred.

"There was something I noticed when we were watching the video of the man who dropped off that tape. My initial speculation, based on the fact that he is wearing a cuff, was that he is a toy. However upon giving it some further consideration he cannot possibly be a toy, and the other explainations for why someone would be wearing a cuff are extremely alarming in this situation." Ryan Kelly looked bemused. "I did not notice the cuff but your team certainly would. Given that though what makes you think that he is not a toy?" Ezra laughed, his answer was a question to his team "How far am I allowed to be from one of you gentlemen going into a dangerous situation?" Vin answered that one "Around 20ft." Chris nodded. The others team 8 members looked curious and Chris responded "We asked Dom how far away he would allow Ezra to be from one of us if he was in a questionable area." Ezra sat back as if he had answered the question and finally Kelly said "And, your point?" "Oh, my apologies. The video shows no one else within 40 feet of security when our suspect handed over the tape in question. That means this man cannot be a toy. No protector would allow him that kind of distance in this situation." Ryan looked curious "Maybe no one else could safely deliver the package without being stopped?" Ezra scoffed "You did not notice the cuff. Suppose the security guard had also overlooked it or was ignorant of what it signified and decided to grab him? Anything could have happened. This was not a safe situation so he simply would not be that far from any guardian." "Why not? Perhaps he ignored his instructions." Ryan was persistent. Ezra grimaced "Just ... trust me. The chance of a toy taking such a risk is slim for fear that the consequences would be deeply unpleasant." Chris shook his head, warning Ryan to drop it. Ezra continued. "The thing is ... impersonating a toy is actually illegal you know. They word it very subtly so that it is not obvious unless you know what you are looking for, but it is actually a Federal crime. More importantly it is suicidal and I am not referring to anything as simple as a gunshot to the back of the head either. I cannot imagine anyone who could be clever enough to have grabbed someone from team 8 being that insane. That is a level of insanity that would impede your higher brain functions. It does not make any sense." Then he paused. "I have considered the options and the other possibility is not good. If that cuff used to belong to a deceased toy, then the owner would be allowed to wear it. Given that the package was addressed to the ATF in general... Gentlemen the most likely answer is that someone in the ATF has been responsible for the death of a toy." Ryan sat back looking troubled "With Kirk caught in the middle."

Chris and Ryan were handing out investigatory assignments among the two teams when Ezra cursed abruptly. Chris looked at him in confusion. Ezra prided himself on an extensive vocabulary and rarely used obscenities. "I forgot. Dominic is leaving for Rio in 2 days. There is a race he has been desiring to compete in for the last 10 years and he finally has the time, resources and ability to go. We were just apprised of the date of the race this weekend. I was planning to tell Chris I needed the time off to attend with him." Ryan looked puzzled "What kind of a problem is it if he leaves? Did you need him to make contacts for you?" Ezra looked unhappy, "That is not the problem. At this juncture everyone he knows would readily answer for 'Ray' any question they would answer for him. However unfortunately he is not likely to postpone such a long anticipated event for an agent he does not know. Given that the question is how I can stay.." Douglas Stone interrupted at that "Wait, what the hell! Are you just going to leave? Suppose we need your contacts or your expertise. Suppose ..." Ezra interrupted him sharply "I know! Obviously with an agent missing I need to stay here. However I am not sure how I convince Dominic to let me stay with someone grabbing ATF agents." Douglas' voice grew scornful "So you're going to let your little dom/sub games get in the way of finding another agent?" Ezra flushed but Ryan interrupted, his voice icy, before Ezra could get a word out. "Let us set aside the fact that you have no business whatsoever commenting on Agent Standish's personal life especially while questioning his dedication and professionalism, which everyone here knows goddamn well are above reproach. Are you seriously suggesting that his owner has no right to tell him where he is allowed to go?" Douglas paused and turned pale his anger disappearing like a popped soap bubble "I apologize Ezra. I remember the damn training. I think if I repeated what I just said to the instructor he would have punched me in the head." Ezra grimaced "Apology accepted and thank you Ryan for your defense of my integrity. Let us just say that I have no plans whatsoever to repeat any part of that comment to Dominic and leave it at that shall we."

Then Ezra grew even more serious "Unfortunately it is indeed accurate that Dom can and in this situation will insist on my safety above all else. Outside of disappearing without warning which would result in an unprecedented reaction from the Denver police department, make Dominic hit the roof, and render all my contacts in the racing community useless I can see no practical way to avoid getting on the plane with Dominic. Make no mistake Kirk is my friend and colleague and my priority is getting him back. The problem is that Dominic's experience of me being unescorted has been perfectly correlated with me being kidnapped. Brian, Mia and the rest of their friends who Dominic would accept as a guardian are all going with him to the championship race so I cannot stay with any of them. Without a guardian available I do not feel that demanding to stay here would be successful. Simply refusing to go would be unproductive as in these circumstances Dom would be willing to physically force me onto the plane if necessary. Good as I am Dominic is simply stronger and better so that is not realistically something I can prevent. What a feasible solution would be in this case I am not entirely sure." Chris' response was brief "You can get Dom to upgrade me to guardian." To the team's surprise Ezra hesitated. "The role of guardian confers more responsibility than you normally have. If something were to happen, regardless of your culpability and even if it was just a minor injury Dom would certainly begin an altercation with you. That is not something I wish to experience. Even worse in such a case Dom would also be very likely to decide I should not work for you in the future." Chris could tell Ezra was considering this a serious possibility. Ezra rarely used Dom's nickname unless he was upset. Chris looked serious, "I do not think we can do this without you Ezra. It looks like your private life will be an essential asset in this case. I think we will have to risk it." Ryan interjected "Would he accept me as the official guardian? We could all stay at the ranch since it is safer than any of our houses as there is no cover to enable intruders to approach undetected. That way if God forbid something goes wrong, and goodness knows you guys get hurt often enough, he would not blame Chris and thus it would not end your career." Ezra grinned "If it was less serious, not a chance but for a case like this. I think I can convince him." 


	2. An unexpected visit

Brian was sorry that he had not made it into the finals but still it was good to be home. Mia and Jack were out shopping. She knew there would be nothing left to cook after two weeks away. Ezra had called to let them know he was on his way over. Brian smiled to himself as he walked into the kitchen. Now that Ezra and Mia got along those two were cute together, though he would never make the mistake of saying so to either of them. He opened the fridge, hmm Mia was right, really nothing edible. Suddenly he heard a step behind him. He turned and could not believe his eyes "Leon?" his surprise distracted him long enough that by the time he recognized that there was a bat coming for his head he was too late to duck. 

Ezra waved at Vin as he walked to Brian's front door. Despite the fact that Brian's car was in the driveway Vin did not make a move until he saw Ezra open the front door and close it behind him. "Brian!" Ezra called as he wandered through the living room, "Where are you?" He went to check the kitchen and stopped short as a man with a face he recognized only from photographs was standing over Brian, holding a knife and kicking him methodically in the ribs. He pulled his weapon without thought and then paused. Dom cared for this man, he could not be shot out of hand, but he was hurting Brian badly. His gun was unwavering as he pointed it at Leon's head. "Nothing on earth would make Dominic shoot you but unfortunately for you I'm not Dominic. Therefore I would strongly recommend that you drop the knife and back away from Brian" Leon took a step towards him and he flipped the safety off in one smooth motion. "If you are under the mistaken impression that I am not an excellent shot please disabuse yourself of that notion." He watched Leon's eyes sweep over him. "What're you? One of Brian's FBI buddies?" He glanced dismissively at Brian lying unmoving on the floor "You're certainly dressed like a proper Fed, unlike him, but then he never did dress like one." Ezra's response was measured, refusing to let his worry about Brian show. "In point of fact I am Dominic's well ... I suppose the correct term is property." Leon laughed "I heard the rumor that Dom had got himself a toy but you, I can't imagine Dom looking at you twice. Buttoned up and uptight is not exactly what he goes for. Not to mention the fact that I don't see a collar on you do I." He stepped forward slowly and it was clear from how he was holding the knife that he knew how to use it. Ezra smiled viciously. "It would hardly be discrete of me to wear a collar to work. However rest assured I have appropriate anklets with Dom's name engraved." Leon stepped closer "So then you would be able to show me one of these anklets right?" Ezra nodded "You should also know that my previous statement was incorrect. If you were by chance to cause me an injury Dominic would in fact shoot you, though only if you were lucky. As you might expect Dominic takes a very dim view of anyone touching his toy." As Leon advanced Ezra backed slowly into the living room. His current primary objective was to get Leon further away from Brian. He was uneasy that Leon might think he could get away with more than most. It unfortunately did not occur to him that Leon might still think he was lying even after he offered to provide proof. Once Leon was out of the kitchen he relaxed his guard somewhat. He did not want to hurt someone Dom considered family. It was then that Leon attacked.

Leon could not believe that this fancy dressed Fed thought he could pretend he belonged to Dom. He had been surprised to find out that Dom had picked up a toy, but in thinking about it realized Dom had always liked his women to be really strong. It wasn't such a stretch particularly for someone who had been in prison. This guy though, nothing about him would appeal to Dom. He had to give him credit for thinking on his feet, but there was no way, especially since he was an admitted Fed. He watched the guy carefully and saw him relax. Now was his chance. The thrown knife buried itself in the guys shoulder, throwing off his aim so that the expected retaliatory shot missed and then Leon was on him. He fought like a professional, but Leon had expected that and made sure to twist the knife when he got a chance. They grappled on the floor and Leon used his greater height and weight to his advantage but the Fed was slippery and managed to throw him off a couple of times. Leon was forced to press the knife in hard a couple of times. He really did not want to kill the guy. Hell he was not going to kill Brian even after his betrayal, just hurt him a lot. He was not sure if Brian was still with Mia but just in case he did not want to do something unforgivable. Just as it seemed like he was finally getting the upper hand he heard "Freeze!" from the door. He looked up into a pair of cold blue eyes in a face with a shaggy haircut. Damn how many of these Feds were there? Seemed like they traveled in packs. He froze and the man beneath him immediately twisted rolling him off onto the floor. He thought about making a break for it but noted how well the gun on him tracked his movements and gave up for now. The other Fed approached him, rolled him over with a foot and cuffed his hands behind him. Then he approached the man on the ground.

Ezra groaned. His shoulder was on fire but now that Vin was here it would be OK. He slowly sat up, he felt dizzy but he needed to get help for Brian. "Brian, hurt in the kitchen." There, that communicated the essentials. He felt things begin to go gray. "The guy is Leon, Dominic's friend, saw his picture, call Dominic." He struggled to hold onto consciousness. Vin came over and helped him onto the couch. Lying down felt better, he watched as Vin stood a careful distance from Leon and did not let his eyes stray from him "What happened?" Ezra explained, concluding the story with "I must conclude he did not believe in my veracity. No one who knows Dominic could imagine that attacking me would result in anything but igniting Dominic's wrath." Vin nodded and then used a foot to roll Leon so he was facing Ezra lying on the coach. When he had ensured Leon was watching he pulled down Ezra's sock exposing one of the anklet cuffs and turned it so Leon could see the engraved "Dominic Torreto". Ezra smiled with satisfaction when Leon blanched. "You give Vin any more trouble and I will ensure you regret it. If you cooperate I will put in a good word with Dominic." Ezra watched Leon nod his understanding. "Vin go check on Brian. I believe we will need the paramedics to be called." He watched Vin slip into the next room and prayed Brian would be OK.

Brian's head ached, he blinked, looked like a hospital room. His head felt stuffed with cotton but something was nagging at him. Suddenly it all came rushing back. He sat up immediately despite the pain "Ray!" "It's OK he will be fine." It was Buck's voice, which was not particularly reassuring. Why wasn't Ezra here? "What happened? Leon blindsided me with a baseball bat but Ezra was supposed to come over I thought I heard him call out but then ..." "Ezra and Vin rescued you. Mia's out in the hall with Jack. It upset him too much seeing you unconscious. I'll go get them." As Buck left Brian tried to figure it out. Buck had not said Ezra WAS fine so something had happened. It was serious enough that Ezra was not here but he could not imagine Leon hurting anyone who was in a vulnerable position an especially not a toy, he had always despised such people more than most. Mia came in and Brian abandoned the puzzle in favor of gaining and giving some well earned comfort. Eventually Jack was playing happily on the floor and he broached the subject. "What is up with Ray?" Mia looked sad and angry all at once. "Leon stabbed him. He did not believe that he belonged to Dom, he thought he was your friend." Brian gasped at that "Dom will loose it." "No kidding. Vin called him from the house. He forfeited the championship race and is on his way back. Ray was conscious enough to talk to him so he is not panicking but still... Chris has put Leon in protective custody at his ranch since apparently he is connected to the case they are working on. It is going to get really messy. Leon insists he was not going to kill you but I am grateful to Ray. The doctors were not particularly happy with your injuries and Leon was not planning on stopping at this point." "Have you seen Ray?" Mia shook her head. "No, he was being sewn up when I came and I did not think Jack could handle that. They were going to bring him here after he was done." As she spoke Ezra was pushed into the room. Brian was glad to see him conscious and smiling. "Brian! Are you OK? I was worried." Jack turned to him ready to do his usual enthusiastic greeting but Mia intercepted him hurriedly. "Your Uncle is hurt you need to be gentle OK?" Ezra hugged Jack though not without a suppressed wince which had Mia pulling the boy away and Nathan offering to take him out for a snack. When he left Mia teased Ezra gently "I am surprised you have not called Dom again yet." Ezra laughed "He might be on a flight, he was on standby. Let me try him though. He pulled out his phone but Dom was not answering. He left a cheery message regardless. Once he hung up he turned to Mia again. "He must have taken the standby so the flight will be coming in tomorrow morning. That will give him a chance to calm down which is good since we really need Leon alive for this case. I think Dominic might have managed not to lose it if I had not been stabbed but the combination of both Brian and myself is too much." Mia agreed and then helped Ezra into the bed next to Brian's. He was tired and to her surprise promptly fell asleep. As she was turning away from the bed Nathan came back with Jack and with Vin in tow. "Look who I found in the lobby." Brian felt himself drifting off too. "Relax. We have it covered" was the last thing he heard Mia say before he drifted off.


	3. Cooperation

Leon shifted and then rolled over as his door opened. Larabee must be coming to check on him again. His heart dropped to the floor as an angry Dom walked in followed closely by the man he had stabbed who now, when it was too damn late, was the perfect picture of a toy. He guessed Dom had come to visit immediately after taking care of more important matters since the toy was flushed and sweating, and wearing nothing but a pair of too tight jeans. Dom stalked towards him but paused at a quiet "Dominic, please." from his toy. He glared at Leon and then visibly took control "Ok a lot of people want me to keep you alive so they can get information so you better damn well start giving some. So lets start with what I want to know first. Why? Why attack Brian, he's family." Leon scowled. "He ruined everything. If he had not joined us we would still be all together and happy." Dom looked irate "Or maybe Vince would have been dead!" "Vince went to jail because of him. You would have been jailed too." "Except he rescued me. You know, this is all very ancient history, maybe you are upset Brian turned out to be a Fed, maybe you are just jealous that he got Mia. I don't care if you're going to bring up things which were resolved a long time ago. So then why now? Sunny's team think you are connected to their case. Are you?" Leon was surprised. These guys were smart, though Dom would not have taken on a toy that wasn't. They probably knew more than expected if they had a federal agent who was also a toy. The toy spoke up again "Brian told us that you were always incredibly protective of toys. Combining that with you showing up here after such a long absence and attacking someone you thought was a Federal agent seems to be too much of a coincidence. You must be involved with the men who have kidnapped our agent. We have surmised that an ATF agent was somehow responsible for a toy's demise and the actions we are seeing are some sort of revenge." Leon's mouth gaped then he glared at the toy. "Look, if I tell you anything..." To his surprise Dom stepped forward and slapped him "Keep your eyes off him!" Leon's eyes had been roving over Ezra's chest assessing the damage there. He stopped and looked only at Dom. "Well I can't go back now. The guys I'm with, they would kill me for hurting a toy. Guess I might as well help since I certainly owe you. Yeah they are working to force the Feds to abide by the same standards as the police. Arturo, the guy behind it, lost his toy to a Fed trying to force information from him. They stripped the toy and removed his tags and then threw him in a cell with a couple of convicts. I do not think they expected him to be killed, certainly not that fast, it was only 15 minutes. Sure the council took care of the guys directly responsible but Arturo wants more than that. He is going to force them to sign an agreement so this never happens to anyone ever again." Dom laughed, "You picked the wrong agency. The ATF has already started training for their agents. I suppose you have either accelerated the process or damaged it permanently. We had not yet moved to have the Directors of the various agencies sign a formal agreement. This will either get them to agree or get them to permanently refuse based on their no negotiation with terrorists policy." Leon looked astonished "When did this happen?" "After I got Sunny there was an issue which ended up involving the cops. Once they realized the Feds were ignorant of how to treat a toy they became to quote Sunny 'incredibly incensed'. They already have an agreement in principle with the ATF and are working on pressuring all the agencies into signing and even requiring formal training seminars for all federal agents." Leon's eyes flicked briefly to Ezra when Dom asked "So is Sunny's surmise correct that it was an ATF agent who killed your friend's toy and that's why you kidnapped one?" Leon shrugged "One Fed is as good as another. It's not as if they have signs on them after all. We happened to know the guy was a Fed so we went after him."

"So let me get this straight." Chris knew the disbelief was clear in his voice but he could not suppress it. "You are saying if we take Ezra we can just walk in and negotiate with these guys. Hell, just talk them into giving themselves up to us." He saw Leon roll his eyes "Nothing at all would cause them to hurt a toy, and before you say I did, I did not believe him since I thought he was a Fed. However you would need to bring a Fed high up enough that they would believe any promises were real. Ezra, or Ray or whatever you call him suggested an AD Travis." Chris frowned at Ezra but wiped the expression off his face in a hurry when Dom stepped blatantly towards him. He was really glad they had made Ryan the official guardian. Dom had laid Ryan flat out with a punch the second he saw him and pretty much every time he came near him since. Ryan had taken it with good grace considering. Since Chris had not officially been in charge Dom had confined himself to yelling at him for a solid hour once they got back to the house. He was still touchy so it was best to be careful. Dom in a temper was frightening. "I am not sure that would be possible. How would we guarantee they would not switch to a more valuable hostage?" "If Leon is correct then they will do nothing to endanger me and that includes an attempt at hostage taking. Why not wait until they articulate their first set of demands and then you can use that to determine Leon's integrity. If their demands are what he is indicating then we can follow through with his plan." Chris thought Ezra's idea had merit but he needed to know one thing. "Leon, are they likely to hurt their hostage prior to making contact again? Especially since they will be wondering what happened to you. Are they likely to make another attempt to carry out the plan of injuring another Fed to show they are serious?" "Actually no. It would be reported that Brian is in the hospital. The fact that somehow I disappeared afterwards will cause them to think the FBI caught and are interrogating me. It will make them wary." Chris looked at his team "So we wait."

"So you're telling me that your best team's undercover agent, the same one with the dubious record of corruption, is involved with a two time ex con. Not only that, he's in some kind of subordinate relationship where he is the junior partner, and this is supposed to be acceptable to us?" AD Travis tensed at this, to put it kindly, somewhat colored version of the facts. "Director Francis, I would not ever describe Mr Standish as having a record of corruption." Not least, he thought to himself, because Chris would have my head. In fact, though he would not put it quite so viciously, he had initially had similar concerns. Chris had not even tried to explain he had simply said "You need to meet Dom" and arranged it. Once he had met Dom it had been obvious there was more to the man than his record. "Look sir essentially Mr Toretto made a mistake in a fit of rage as a young man. All the rest is a result of that first mistake. After he was released from prison the first time he could not get a job or make a good living for his family as an independent mechanic so he turned to crime. Then, even though he helped the FBI, the judge handed down an excessive sentence which precipitated the jail break. The catalyst was all that first instance and he is no longer that hot headed young man. Furthermore he earned his pardon prior to any of these events."

Director Francis seemed unimpressed by this recital of the facts. "Right now you are proposing putting not just your career, but your life on the line, based on the word of this ex-con. Even given his interest in this case, what prevents him from turning on you afterwards? Are you willing to put your own career on the line to guarantee that your agent can't be corrupted by this boyfriend of his? I'm sure the market for information on ATF raids could make someone a great deal of money." Francis looked smug but at this new line of attack Travis relaxed. "Sir, I would gladly trust Agent Standish with my life. I have no problem whatsoever guaranteeing Standish's loyalty. He would never sell such information. Furthermore Mr Toretto is quite wealthy in his own right." Francis looked startled and then angry but before he could commence a new line of attack Jones, one of the other Directors present at the meeting, stepped in. "Why don't we avoid the problem and transfer your agent after this case closes. We could send him to another jurisdiction, Topeka perhaps?" Travis carefully arranged his expression to look as neutral as possible, they really were not going to like this. "Sirs I am afraid we cannot simply transfer Agent Standish. In fact due to his new status the police would be extremely displeased if we should try such a thing." Director Jones looked puzzled "How are the police involved at all?" Travis was grateful he had a long talk with the police commissioner when he initially found out about Ezra's new status. "For historical reasons the police are required to protect not only unowned toys but also the institution itself. That means making any attempt to move a toy from one jurisdiction to another without their owner's prior agreement is unauthorized interference." "So you're saying the police would, what, refuse to work with us." "Actually Sir they might even choose to arrest anyone involved. They take the council seriously." Director Francis looked interested instead of angry for the first time "What these racers have some sort of formal organization?" Travis relaxed and felt for the first time things were moving in the right direction. "No Sir the council is not only racers, it includes every major criminal enterprise on the planet, Mafia, drug kingpins, Yakuza, Russian mob, biker gangs, all the major street gangs, absolutely everything. They negotiated with the police and set out the rules of conduct, one of which forbids any governmental institutions from actions which interfere between an owner and toy." The directors look astounded. 

Director Jones could not believe that such a thing existed, and not only did the police fail to stop it they were actively participating. "So you're telling us the police participate in this, this, slavery." AD Travis winced. "Sir, these contracts are voluntary. It is true sometimes they are the best of multiple bad choices but they cannot be coerced. The participants have to be at least 21, which was a condition the police insisted on, as well as having a complete understanding of what they are getting into. Also the owner is responsible for the complete emotional and physical health and protection. It is perhaps not the most desirable situation but it is not slavery. Any kind of abuse is grounds for ending a contract. In fact abusive behavior is not tolerated by the council and given their backgrounds their punishments are vicious and extremely thorough. Sir you must realize, the police pretty much had no choice but to agree to back this since some pretty egregious mistakes were made initially when interfacing with the toys. At that point their only choice was all out war with the every organized criminal entity in existence or this truce. No one wants to break this agreement. Since Agent Standish precipitated the current negotiations on the training of federal agents in this agreement every police jurisdiction would refuse to tolerate any interference with him from any federal agency."

"Well Travis we seem to have no choice to agree to leave him alone but given that he is known to every major criminal organization. How can he do his job?" That question was from Director Bryce who was more pragmatic than the other two directors. "Well Director only the members of the council know about Agent Standish's part in gaining this agreement and they are not aware of his status as an agent. Even if they were no council member would ever do anything to jeopardize a toy in any circumstance. Furthermore Standish rarely goes undercover absent a disguise and he certainly does not use his real name. In fact his nickname among the racers is Ray. There is not likely to be a reason to connect whatever name he uses when undercover with the racer toy "Ray". The council database is not freely searchable except to jail officials and senior police officers who are automatically at risk if something should happen. If by some happenstance someone was to connect "Ray" to an undercover identity, well they would be unlikely to make the further leap to connect him to the ATF and even if they did their likely response would be to contact Mr Toretto." The directors sighed. There was a pause and Travis began to hope that the cross examination was over. Then Director Bryce spoke again. "So if this agreement is so important why is it that only now federal agents are being brought into it?" Travis winced, there was no way to sugar coat this unpleasant fact. "The initial agreement was signed quite a long time ago. I had to go talk to some retired Directors to find out what had happened. Essentially, well to put it bluntly the federal agencies tricked the police department. We all told them that we needed to have separate agreements and training and we would handle it ourselves. Then the various federal agencies could not agree on a unified training system and only the FBI's organized crime units felt they would ever run into a relevant situation. Eventually the various agencies just lied and said it had been implemented although only the organized crime guys ever did anything. Nothing was ever written down since it was felt that would be too incriminating and eventually no one originally involved passed on the information and it passed out of institutional memory. Now the police have put their foot down and no agent not certified by the police will be allowed in an operation with which they are involved. In fact all of the agents in this office have already been trained for obvious reasons." "Well Travis" Jones said finally "If you are willing to vouch for this situation and to risk your life this way that is all the explanation we need. We will communicate with our counterparts at the FBI and get their signatures on the agreement also."


	4. A Strange Rescue

Chris drove behind Dom's car on the way to the house where Leon said they were holding Agent Gustin. Ryan was sitting beside him, tense but silent. Dom had not been particularly enthusiastic about him coming but had given in after a lot of pushing from Ezra. It had not been particularly pleasant for anyone. Dom had got to the point where he had point blank told Ezra to drop the topic but Ezra had been adamant. Chris understood what Ezra was risking there, though he had not thought Ryan knew the score. To both his and Dom's surprise Ryan had understood. When Ezra kept pushing after Dom ordered him quiet, Ryan had intervened and asked Ezra to let it go. He had told him that he did not want Ezra to get hurt over something which was, in the end, just for his own peace of mind. That had tipped the scales for Dom. He had not punished Ezra, which was not a complete surprise, he generally did not punish Ezra readily for things he said after the incident with Mia and in any case was unlikely to punish him while he was recovering from an injury. He had also agreed to have Ryan come along since he was now willing to give him credit to him for at least caring whether Ezra was hurt. Leon was not coming with them, that made Chris very uneasy but Dom agreed with him that once they explained what he had done to Ezra he really was likely to be shot out of hand. Chris had suggested they not explain but Dom had indicated that it was their best negotiating tactic since these men would likely feel obliged to make it right. Travis was sitting in the back. He was the one with the signed agreement between the ATF, the FBI and the council. They had not had time to get any other federal agencies but those two should be enough to show good faith. The council had in fact been harder to convince since they had wanted to get all the agencies signed up at once but Travis had obtained their agreement since a little coaching from Dom had him pointing out that one toy had already been injured over the fact that the perception was that no Federal agencies were in compliance with the standard law enforcement agreements.

Chris pulled up in front of the house and waited. Ezra and Dom approached the house together. They knocked and the door was opened almost immediately. Chris winced at the firepower that was displayed. He was not surprised at how fast Dom stepped in front of Ezra but he had never seen weapon muzzles drop so fast in his life. It looked like this would work after all. He could not hear what was being said at this distance but he could see Dom suddenly relax and then wave them out of the car. Chris made sure he and Ryan flanked Travis and that their weapons were visible though holstered but there was no reaction from the guard on the door and they all joined Ezra and Dom and entered the house. There was no one in the living room but they followed their guide upstairs and there, in one of the bedrooms, were two men as heavily armed as the first and finally the missing agent, Kirk Gustin. Still tied to a chair but looking no worse than before.

Arturo looked up and to his astonishment saw a toy accompanied by what had to be his owner and three other men, Feds by the look of them. The toy looked like he was posing for a picture. Straight slicked back dark red hair with red blond highlights, a mesh tank top in bright blue the exact color of his eyes, eye catching orange shorts that could have been painted on. The only thing marring the picture was a bandage in stark white wrapped around his upper torso. Arturo was going to find out the story behind that. He was pleased to see his men put their weapons away immediately as soon as the toy approached. Perhaps the Feds had made an offer to the owner to get help in retrieving their man. It did not matter to Arturo, he was not going to be responsible for hurting a toy, and if they had hurt this one to get his attention they would all pay. Somehow he would see to that. The toy smiled at him when the weapons were laid aside, that was a reward in itself. The man who was clearly the owner spoke for the first time. "Dominic Toretto, I came to sort this out because frankly I'm not letting my toy get hurt in the cross fire between you guys and the Feds again. Leon, the man you sent to beat up a Fed put my brother in law Brian in hospital and also stabbed my toy. Neither of those things is happening again. Now I brought with me two ATF agents and their boss with the agreement you demanded. You take it and look it over and then let the agent you kidnapped go, because you're not endangering what is mine again." 

Arturo was stunned. He had expected the next move to be an attack from the Feds he could well imagine were outside. Or perhaps the ones in here would pull their weapons and start shooting. He was not looking for this capitulation. If the agreement was real... he turned to Rafael, his right hand man through all this. "You have been doing the research on the higher ups in the agencies. Any of these guys really important enough for this to be true?" Rafael responded with a slow nod. "The guy there is Assistant Director Travis. He's well known, a former judge. They would not risk him unless what he brings is real." Suddenly Rafael turned to the man Dominic "Leon though, he would have NEVER hurt a toy and from what I know he used to be on your crew. He would certainly never hurt a friend's toy. I know about his issues with Brian and I can understand you being upset about that but, I can't believe.." To Arturo's pleasure and amusement the toy spoke up at that. "Well in fairness to Leon I was not dressed anything like this at the time. I tend to favor suits and he thought I was a Federal Agent and reacted accordingly." Arturo saw Toretto pull his toy sharply to his side as he spoke. He intervened immediately. He had never been in favor of preventing toys from expressing themselves. He knew some people saw it as disrespectful for a toy to talk without permission, but he had never agreed. "No, let him talk." He smiled as Dominic looked at him in obvious surprise. "I can see why you would think I would react badly. Leon would have told you I am a traditionalist, but I learned from Manuel that toys can have valuable opinions. I do not expect nor want you to punish him for speaking his mind. He is safe here."

Ezra smiled at Arturo's words and decided that now was the time to push things. He waited until Dom's hand fell from his arm and then, before anyone could move to stop him, dashed to Kirk's side and, pulling a knife from his boot, quickly sliced through the ropes. He felt a hand clamp on his shoulder just as the last set of ropes fell away. He made a quick bet with himself that Chris would have moved faster than Dom, since Chris would see his actions as risky. However everything in his experience indicated that now was the time to move, so he had followed his instincts. He turned to face Chris, and found, to his astonishment, that it was actually Travis. "Are you crazy? Everything was proceeding at a perfectly reasonable pace there was absolutely no reason for incendiary behavior!" Travis actually shook him "You could have been shot by some overzealous person getting jumpy!" Ezra scanned the two men with Arturo. Predictably Arturo had not moved and neither had the door guard. However the other man had moved and the one Ezra suspected was Arturo's right hand man was currently holding a gun on him. Ezra shrugged "There was no risk, no one had a gun in hand and Chris is faster than anyone else I've ever seen. If we had waited it would have come down to negotiations, and you had already indicated that no one was prepared to offer anything other than the document we already had. I judged that things could potentially get out of hand if you maintained your position that you refused to offer any kind of amnesty. Arturo is prepared to go to jail. He may not be prepared to have his men go with him. It was easier to head that all off." Chris' voice which was filled with suppressed anger chimed in then. "You know Ezra I don't like you taking risks so I hope you have something better than that." Dom spoke up then "This is a well run crew. Arturo would have someone who would ensure his word was good watching anyone who might think of touching a gun around a toy." His voice was amused "Think about it Chris it would take a lot for Sunny to take any kind of risk around me and you know it." Ezra saw Chris relax at that. He did not appreciate the reminder but he accepted that it would calm Chris down.

It was too tight a squeeze to fit both Ryan and Kirk in the back seat of Chris' truck so Kirk was riding with Dom and Ezra. Travis had insisted they wait for the police to come and pickup Arturo and his men so they had hung around until the cruisers showed up. Now Chris and Dom were giving Ryan and Kirk a lift to Ryan's house where the rest of team 8 was gathered in anticipation of Kirk's return. Then they would go back out to the ranch, where they would have to decide what to do about Leon. In all the excitement they had forgotten what the cops reaction would be to a bandaged Ezra. The cops had clearly wanted to shoot someone and were not necessarily picky about who. As it was, both Ryan and Dom had what promised to be a very unpleasant appointment with the chief of police the next day. Travis had been impressed. His previous knowledge of the police reaction had been theoretical. He had discovered that his imagination had not been quite up to the task of how the police actually reacted to the idea of toys being hurt. Ezra had been forced to give Leon's name in order to avoid the cops taking in everyone, Travis included, to, as they put it, "sort it out". Certainly Leon would need a dramatic change in appearance and identity if he did not want to be shot out of hand. Particularly since Arturo was likely to send someone after him as well. Ezra wanted to keep Dom well away from Leon until he had more time to calm down, particularly since he had heard Dom ask Chris if he needed anything more from him. Chris had been non committal but his answer was not the firm one he had given before they had retrieved Kirk.


	5. Abandoned

Ezra watched Dom's expression in the rearview mirror as he drove away. He really could not believe he was doing this. He had known Dom would be furious, but the expression on his face indicated that Ezra had still underestimated just how angry he was. Well there was no help for it now. He might as well forget about how this was going to end up and put his plan into action. He turned to Kirk "I do appreciate your company Mr Gustin I would have been unable to do this without your help." He was serious too. Dom would not be pleased with him, but if he had taken off by himself, it did not bear thinking about. "No problem Standish, you got me out of a bad situation there, this is a small favor in payment. So what are we doing anyway?" Ezra looked over at him. "I need to help a criminal escape the consequences of his actions." 

Ezra could not believe the man was this stubborn. "Look, you have three separate groups of people who want to kill you. Do you have a death wish?" Leon looked stubborn "I cannot believe that Dom would simply kill me." Ezra sighed "Look, he is not thinking straight and he would regret it immensely afterwards but right now he is angry enough that he would hurt you and I do not know if he would stop. Do you want to do that to him again. Force him into something he would regret? The reaction of the police greatly exacerbated the situation. It certainly does not help that I basically stranded him by the side of the road." Leon looked astonished "What? You left Dom?" "Do you see him here? Did you think he suddenly decided I should be in the presence of someone who recently injured me without his companionship?" "Hey! We are here." Vin sounded indignant. "Yes and normally that would suffice. However you must realize that he is bound to be more than normally protective until I am healed" JD piped up "Did you really just take his car and leave?" Ezra regretted the necessity of having all his teammates here but he really did not need Dom angrier and this was the best solution if Dom could not be here in person. "I had no choice. He was asking Chris if we needed Leon for our case anymore. The cops had just spent several minutes berating him for being careless with my safety." His teammates stilled at that news. They knew Dom well enough they could imagine that did not sit well. "So please, can we make the necessary changes to your appearance and then put you on a bus." Leon looked at him and then finally nodded. Ezra relaxed he had some basics at the ranch, hair color, some facial prosthetics, some changes of clothes that would fit Leon, some fake documents. They could be ready to go in 15 minutes.

Chris watched the tow truck pull up. Dom was still glowering at him but he ignored it. He had refused Dom's demand that he be allowed to hot wire Chris' truck. He was not sure Dom believed his adamant refusal was out of consideration for the truck's functioning, but ultimately it had bought more time for Ezra. He thought that unfortunately his stalling had also made Dom angrier, if such a thing was possible, but he felt the time was needed more. He knew Ezra would be getting Leon out of Denver, probably out of the country if he could manage that. He had to admit it was probably for the best. No matter what Dom did to Leon he would not get in trouble, those cops had certainly made that clear, but he agreed with Ezra that Dom would feel guilty about hurting someone he had considered a good friend, even a member of his family, when he calmed down. Chris was glad Ezra had the foresight to take someone with him, and even happier it was not him or Ryan. Dom would not have appreciated that at all. It took the tow truck driver a full 20 minutes to get the new key for the truck made and then finally they were all loaded up and ready to go. Chris refused Dom's offer to drive though he did stick him up front in the passenger seat. No need to push him more by cramming him in the back with Travis or Ryan. The AD had originally proposed they drop him off before heading out to the ranch but subsided after a glare from Dom. 

Now that they were finally heading out Dom relaxed minutely. Chris decided to take the bull by the horns "You know Ezra will have sent Leon off by the time we get there." Dom practically growled, "If he has gotten in my car with Leon to drive him to the airport he will learn what it means to be sorry!" Chris refrained from pointing out that Ezra would know better than to use an airport since he had been forced to give Leon's name to the police officers. "He's not suicidal. Well not that you would kill him but, you know what I mean." Dom allowed that he did. Chris heard his voice turn pensive "Why did he take Kirk with him though?" Chris laughed at that. "Ryan is supposed to be his guardian and I am regularly in charge of him, you would never trust us again if we helped him. Travis would take too long to convince and Kirk owed him. He was the obvious choice. Also I do not think Kirk realizes how likely he is to get punched in the face." Dom barked a laugh at that. Chris was glad to hear it, it meant Dom was finally calming down. "So just how much trouble is Ezra in exactly?" Dom looked at Chris and he winced from the level of anger he could see. "That bad huh?" Dom turned away "I am seriously thinking of leaving him with you for a few days, not a contract termination, that's not really possible for me anyway, but a suspension, it is not permanent and I think he needs to learn.." Chris gasped "Christ! Please don't do that to him Dom, he doesn't deserve ... he is thinking of you here you must know that. I do not think he could handle something like that. He would honestly prefer you really did seriously hurt him. Frankly it would cause him less pain. You did not see him when you guys separated before. You cannot do that. He particularly does not deserve it for something he is doing for you. Dom, He will think the worst. You know he will" Chris could not believe he was doing this but "After all it's not as though he did anything dangerous or even disobeyed your safety rules. Take your belt to him if you feel the need to punish him for disrespect, but don't make him doubt your care for him." Dom froze at Chris' words and then, for the first time, really thought about why Ezra had been so adamant about Leon that he had actually abandoned Dom. He realized something then and felt immensely grateful to Chris for pointing it out to him. "Somewhere in my head I'm reacting like he broke his word to me and did something that compromised his safety, like running off unescorted, but he did not. To him Kirk is a viable escort." Chris relaxed at that "Ryan do you mind giving Dom Kirk's credentials." As Ryan went down the list of Kirk's military qualifications Chris watched Dom's body relax and smiled to himself. Now it would be all right.

Leon had been disguised and sent off with Josiah. Ezra had carefully given Josiah several alternative routes out of town but did not ask which one he was going to use. He needed to be able to honestly say he did not know which way Leon had gone. He calculated that Chris must have stalled for a tow truck so he was expecting them any minute. He had sent the rest of the team away except for Nathan. He had initially not been able to get Kirk to leave but had finally resorted to calling Doug Stone. He had made it clear that the rest of team 8 needed to see their missing member so Kirk had been prevailed upon to hitch a ride with JD and Buck. Finally he saw Chris' truck come up the drive and pull to a stop. Dom got out and walked towards Ezra wordlessly. Ezra bowed his head. He really didn't want to see the expression on Dom's face. He saw Dom come and stand in front of him and looked up. For the first time he could not read Dom's expression. Dom still said nothing but began to walk away from the house out towards the trail. Ezra followed, this was making him nervous. Finally they reached the trees. Dom sat and pulled Ezra onto his lap, holding him and finally he began speaking. "I'm sorry Sunny I understand what you were trying to do. You're right. I would have hurt Leon badly, maybe killed him though not deliberately, and I would have regretted it. I was so angry with you for preventing that." Ezra listened to Dom's apology but he stiffened as Dom continued, explaining what he had been thinking of doing. To Ezra this just meant that Dom was contemplating leaving him. He came back to himself suddenly as Dom kissed him. "Hey, Chris talked me out of it. He did not think that was fair and he was right wasn't he. You would just have seen it as abandoning you. He made me realize the problem was not you. I'm not going to punish you at all Sunny because you acted in my best interest when I could not see it and you did nothing unsafe. I can put up with a bit of disrespect and disobedience for a good cause." Ezra could not believe it. "So I took your car without permission and drove off and left you, going with someone you had not approved as a suitable protector and took the keys to Chris' truck so you could not follow and you're going to do nothing?" Dom laughed "Are you trying to talk yourself into a spanking?" Ezra was suddenly serious "If the alternative is you leaving me certainly." Dom sighed at that "Shall I give you a more accurate description of what happened? You prevented me from making a terrible mistake, that I would regret for the rest of my life, and still did nothing that caused me any hurt or risked yourself. I did finally realize Kirk was already approved as backup for your team so in effect he was an appropriate escort. I suffered some inconvenience and my pride was hurt, but Sunny, I was not with anyone who expects you to obey me, or would think less of me if you do not. You did not even damage my reputation. How can I possibly punish you for any of that. You're family Ezra Standish, and you know my family is the most important thing in my life."


	6. Epilogue: Contract Negotiations Revisited

Somehow after all that had happened Dom had not expected that Ezra would insist that he take the final 'payment' from Vin or maybe he had not realized just how much it would be. Now Ezra was sitting in his office blithely preparing to transfer millions of dollars to him. He had been arguing all morning and Ezra had simply ignored him, threats, bribes, nothing had convinced him. Finally Dom decided that offering a compromise was the only reasonable alternative. "Alright Sunny, I will give you this much. If you bring your team into this discussion and you can convince them all this is the right thing to do, I will accept it". "Deal!" Ezra responded as he went to call his team Dom hoped that they were as stubborn as he was on the issue.

"No Ezra absolutely not!" Dom smirked he was glad he had insisted that Ezra show his friends exactly how much money was involved. Josiah was just quietly watching him and Chris was pacing, but the others were all gathered around Ezra yelling. "Look" Ezra said finally "suppose I give half of it to you first. Then will you agree?" Nathan looked beyond angry at that particular suggestion. "Ezra are you actually seriously trying to bribe us!" Ezra paused and then looked ashamed. "I ... sorry I just... it works with Maude." Nathan calmed down a little at that statement but Dom determined they would have to do something about Maude. Then he realized, "Nathan, I must admit that is a good point, if Ezra's money is unavailable to him, perhaps there will be no reason for Maude to manipulate him. I like the idea of half of it going to you guys anyway. You can hold it in trust for him if he does ultimately need it. If I give you my word that I will return the bulk to him if he terminates the contract would that be agreeable?" The men looked at each other then as one turned to Josiah, who spoke up for the first time. "I am impressed that Dom does not want this money. You noticed that it is Ezra who wishes to give it to him. That alone makes him worthy of it." Josiah turned towards Ezra "If you provide half of this in trust to us then we will withdraw our objections." Ezra smiled suddenly "One quarter to you to keep in trust and the other quarter to be divided equally among you to spend as you see fit." Dom sighed as another round of arguing broke out. Chris came and sat beside him, "He'll get what he wants you know. He always does. The guy is the best." Dom smiled "Well he did want to give me all of it and he did not get that." Chris smiled "You know, I knew there was a reason I liked you."


End file.
